Whether you are a budding entrepreneur or an established business owner, having a coach or mentor can be invaluable to your entrepreneurial success. There is no shortage of coaches out there, and while it may seem overwhelming to choose the right one for you, it’s helpful to understand the main types of offerings you’ll see. Depending on what you are looking for, it’s important to differentiate between the short-term niched offerings vs a long-term holistic approach to your business success.
Short-term niched business coaching
What is considered ‘online niche business coaching’? Typically, these types of training programs focus on a particular niche for a certain time period. For example, XYZ company is offering its 6-month program on social media. Or ABC company is offering an intensive 6-week online program focused on email marketing. These online programs usually include a private Facebook community and a weekly live group coaching call for whatever length that program is. During this time period, you are focusing on one very specific goal. When the program ends, the student hopefully retains the information and implements the material.
Longer-term holistic business mentorship and coaching
The second type of coaching is what’s considered the holistic approach. Rather than learning one particular piece of the business puzzle, this type helps with the entire business infrastructure from idea, to foundation, to scaling. These programs are longer-term and they guide you throughout your entire entrepreneurial journey. A program with coaches, as well as mentors, can help you identify areas where you need to improve or pivot at any stage of your business. This type of program will likely have expertise in multiple specialties within its umbrella. Think of being able to integrate the niched focus areas into the larger scheme of your business. Developing a comprehensive strategy that takes into account the multitude of things we need to work on to grow our business, and knowing what step to take first can be daunting without the holistic type of coaching and mentoring. In addition, and similar to niche business coaching, there might be a private members’ community and likely include several live group coaching calls around several different topics.
So, which do you choose based on your specific needs and goals?
The short-term niche coaching may be suitable if you really only want help in a very specific area of your business and have all other aspects coming along smoothly. It’s also for those that may not want to commit to mentoring along their journey.
However, if you have many areas of your business that needs finetuning, from building a solid business foundation to scaling and growing the business, then a holistic-based program is ideal. You can have your business assessed in ways other coaches just don’t have the time to do or it’s just not a part of their expertise. This longer-term holistic approach provides you with a strategy you can apply wherever you are in your business – from beginner to advanced – as you grow. Also, in this type of program, access to ongoing mentorship provides deeper understanding and stability to your coaching that can last years.
Consistent mentorship does have an advantage for both new entrepreneurs and established ones because both can benefit from having an objective person learn your business from the inside out. A new entrepreneur will likely feel overwhelmed with the number of tasks needing to be done and having someone to help prioritize and declutter their mind can make all the difference in proper decision-making. On the other hand, an established entrepreneur with an already solid foundation can run the risk of resisting change and unintentionally holding their business back from growing by sticking to their established norms. A mentor that has taken the time to get to know them can help pinpoint that blind spot and provide a clear strategy to move forward.
All in all, a coaching partnership, with a mentor, has many more opportunities to advance the entrepreneur’s business as it moves from phase to phase. That’s not to say, niched coaching does not have its place. It is a great complementary service but relying on short-term niched coaching programs for your entire business journey can leave a lot of opportunity for growth unaddressed.
Why Shift/Co stands apart from short-term online programs. Key differentiators include:
- Shift/Co takes into consideration the stage of your business at the time of enrolment. A custom plan is developed to not only grow the business but to also ensure that the business has the foundation required to scale. Any areas that need attention will be part of the plan.
- Shift/Co mentors & coaches will serve as your business ‘mechanic’ as over time, they will get to know what’s ‘underneath the hood’, what parts are working, not working, or needs new parts.
- As your business’ journey progresses, the coaching material will also adjust to suit that particular phase. The training is not a one size fits all. Businesses, like the entrepreneurs who start them, have different needs based on their particular phase.
- Shift/Co provides not only practical business strategies but equally as important, personal and leadership support with complementary personal development courses. Any entrepreneur knows that there is no business issue that doesn’t affect their personal life and no personal issue that doesn’t affect their business. Shift/Co mentors and coaches are trained to recognize where additional help is needed.
- Even though the Shift/Co programs are built for a longer-term partnership with each entrepreneur, the membership fees are month-to-month, with no long-term commitment.
The illustration below highlights the 6 phases of business, each delineated by its typical average revenue and the strategic imperatives for each phase. Whether you are looking to grow your business from “Launch” to “Shape” or looking to build an enterprise to the “Scale” phase, Shift/Co customizes the program to your goals. Monthly membership fees are on a sliding scale where the early business phases (Launch and Shape) are nominal and increase slightly as your business grows. (See prices in each colored phase circle.)
If you are looking for a business coaching and mentorship program that will support you holistically throughout your entrepreneurial journey, visit shiftco.org to learn more or schedule a free demo HERE. At any time, you can attend a Shift/Co free training event and hear from members who are already growing with Shift/Co.